AROUND THE WORLD.

Fire disrupts link with military satellites

MOSCOW, RUSSIA — In the mess of wires inside one of Russia's military space relay stations, a cable short-circuited Thursday--and the country lost control of four military satellites.

In a reminder of the nation's dangerously decrepit military infrastructure, a blaze in the relay station at the Russian Space Forces unit in Kurilovo, 120 miles southwest of Moscow, knocked out the link with the satellites for part of the day.

The fire was an echo of the blaze in August at the Ostankino television tower, Russia's central relay tower, that caused TV screens nationwide to go blank, also because of an electrical short-circuit.

Space forces personnel delayed calling firefighters for three hours and tried to handle the blaze alone, but it soon tore through the three-story concrete complex. No casualties were reported.

"Everything was ablaze," said Capt. Andrei Kosarenko, duty officer at the unit. "It was so hot you could not even approach the building."

Russian military officials played down the problem and said Thursday afternoon that communication with the satellites had been re-established. There was no detail on how long they were incommunicado.

Alexander Zhilin, military analyst with the weekly Moscow News, said that despite the secrecy and efforts to shrug off the incident, the loss of communication was very serious.

The blaze underscored the problem Russia faces in upgrading outdated infrastructure, not only in the military but in almost every sphere.